Sharp Shooter: Kiel’s Carter Voelker

Kiel senior Carter Voelker is a returning first-team all-conference selection in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference and currently leading the Raiders in scoring at 21.1 points per game.(Photo: Gary C. Klein/Sheboygan Press Media)Buy Photo

KIEL - Although the season is still young and there's a lot of important basketball to be played, Kiel's sharp-shooting senior point guard Carter Voelker is already wreaking havoc on the Big East.

His Raiders currently sit at 5-1 overall (3-1 EEC), due in large part to his 21 points per game. He started the year with a whopper of a game against Howards Grove, where he dropped 30 points on the Tigers, including two three-pointers, and didn't stop there, scoring 24 points against Valders and Roncalli and 23 against Brillion.

Voelker is a man on a mission with lofty expectations. He's driven by a desire to win as much as he can with his friends around him, before the clock expires.

"I've come to the realization that this is the end," he said. "I'm not going to be able to do something I love with my friends anymore. I'm trying not to take any of it for granted. I want to do everything I can to get better so I don't don't waste my last year."

Before that end comes, though, Voelker wants to leave his mark on the Eastern Wisconsin Conference.

"I want to be the player of the year in the conference," he said. "You can't win player of the year in the conference if your team is poor. It means that you showed up every night. You win it by being the best player in the conference and with team success. They won't vote for you if your team isn't up there, and that speaks to my teammates too."

Early indications suggest the other players are up to the task. Voelker said his guys are tall, talented and determined.

"We have a lot of athletic guys, and we have great size for a high school team," he said. "We don't have any starters under six-foot. We have two guys who are six-five. We're bigger than most teams, and that's coupled with the fact that we're more athletic than most teams. The goal is always to get down to state and win a conference championship. I really think we can do that this year."

As a senior, the mantle of team leader has in part fallen on his shoulders. While in years passed, he was content to follow the lead of others. This year, he's embracing the role.

"It's a little different than last year when we had a senior who was by far the best leader on the team," he said. "I learned from him everyday that you have to be the one who brings it. You have to lead by example. You can't take any days off. That gets everyone else in tune with what we want to do. It's a lot of fun to get everybody behind you."

Leading by example might be putting it mildly. He spent the summer working exhaustively on what he considered weaknesses in his game.

"This offseason, I knew I was skilled basketball-wise, but the conditioning and athleticism wasn't always there," he said. "That's what I worked on. I was in the weight room lifting and running to improve my athleticism. Hopefully that takes me to the next level with my shooting and ball handling."

Coming off a junior season that saw Voelker selected as a unanimous All-Eastern Wisconsin Conference first-teamer, it would have been easier to let complacency creep in, even just a little bit. That's not his style, though. He's not satisfied until he's the best.

"My shooting stands out," he said. "I believe that I'm one of the best shooters in the area, if not the state. That comes with a lot of hard work in the summer and the mornings, getting extra shots up. My teammates put me in spots where I can hit shots. As a distributor, I believe I'm a playmaker for our team. We have a lot of guys who can score, and I want to be someone who can get the ball to everyone."

When his senior season does finally wind down, Voelker said he'll be ready to dive head first into whatever set of challenges awaits him. Judging by his performance so far this year, odds are basketball will likely play a heavy role.

"I'm looking to go play basketball somewhere next year," he said. "I'm looking to major in structural engineering, so there's a good chance I'm going down to UW-Platteville to play there and continue my education. Hopefully that comes after a great trip to state with my teammates this year."